Diksha Sundriyal
NBC’s ‘La Brea’ is a time travel show that follows the story of people who get stuck in 10,000 BC. The story primarily follows the complications in the lives of the Harris family, especially the mystery surrounding Gavin Harris, who was revealed to have connections with the pre-historic era. In the first season, we found out about Gavin’s childhood, and how he was connected to the events that took place thousands of years ago.
In the second season, we meet his parents, whose identities had remained a secret for him all this time. It was assumed that his parents, Caroline and James, would stick around long enough to tell him more about where he really comes from and how to go back to his original timeline. However, before that can happen, Gavin loses his mother. What happened to Caroline and does it mean that she is gone for good? Let’s find out. SPOILERS AHEAD
Is Caroline Dead?
Caroline was introduced to the audience in the second season when Josh and Riley ended up in 1988. They wanted to find out more about the sinkholes, one of which had opened up in Hollywood, and this led them to Caroline. Soon after, Josh discovered that Caroline was his grandmother, and eventually, the entire family was reunited, when Gavin, Eve, and Izzy came to the 80s as well. They together went back to 10,000 BC when Caroline intended to put a virus inside the machine that James had been using to time travel, and consequentially create new sinkholes.
When Gavin decides not to go forward with the virus plan, Caroline is forced to give James the benefit of the doubt. Gavin convinces her that James is well on his way to fixing the machine, which means that they can all go back home and there wouldn’t be any more sinkholes either. He tells her about Dr. Moore’s research, and she finds some of his pages in the cave where he had been living. She keeps it a secret from everyone, except Riley, and takes those papers to Silas, her father, who’d been taking care of Gavin when he was still Isaiah.
Caroline comes back to meet Gavin at Ty and Paara’s wedding, where she tells him about the additional pages she’d found. She feels confident about cracking the code, but she doesn’t want James to find out about it just yet. During the wedding, Caroline crosses paths with James, who is surprised to see her after such a long time. There is still some resentment between them, especially from Caroline’s side who is angry at James for taking over the project and sending his men to capture her when she was in 1988.
James promises that he would never do anything to hurt her and he just wants to talk to her. However, soon after, Caroline is found dead and James is in the vicinity. At first glance, it looks like James has killed Caroline. But then Eve reveals that Silas has arrived at the camp and he was shot by Kira, which means that it was she who killed Caroline as well. If there was any doubt that Caroline was dead, it is removed when we see Gavin, Eve, and James burying her. It looks like her part in the story has come to an end.
Melissa Neal’s Exit From La Brea
It is clear that Caroline is dead in ‘La Brea’, which means that actress Melissa Neal, known for her role in films like ‘Infinite’, will not be appearing in the show anymore. Not in the next few episodes at least. Because ‘La Brea’ plays with time travel, we can’t completely reject the possibility that we will see Caroline again. James had, after all, been working on Project Blue Moon which intended to get him back to the past, where Gavin was still a child.
James wants to correct his mistakes and get the lost time with his family back. At the end of the twelfth episode, he is seen executing a program before Eve stops him. This could mean that his plan has been put into action. If James succeeds, we will surely see Caroline again, which means that Melissa Neal will grace our screens once again.
Read More: Will Eve Die in La Brea? Theories
